Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This bill gives effect to measures announced in the 2017-18 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, which are designed to promote financial independence and self-sufficiency for newly arrived migrants.

These measures reflect this government's commitment to both responsible economic management and fairness. They strike the right balance between promoting self-reliance for newly arrived migrants and providing appropriate exemptions for those that may need them.

We are fortunate that Australia is a prosperous country with strong social and economic foundations. There is no doubt migrants seeking to settle in Australia are attracted to our way of life, our successful multicultural society and the opportunities our economy offers.

However, to maintain this, we need to make fiscally responsible decisions to repair the budget and ensure that spending is kept under control for the benefit of current and future generations.

A key part of this is ensuring that our welfare payments system remains fair and sustainable, and provides the best possible encouragement for people to support themselves and contribute socially and economically to this nation.

The welfare payments system is already subject to a number of targeting provisions, which include residency requirements designed to ensure that payments are made to people who are residing in Australia and have an established and ongoing connection to Australia.

For this reason, waiting periods for new migrants already exist for a number of welfare payments. These waiting periods—known as the newly arrived resident's waiting period—are designed to ensure that people who decide to apply for a permanent visa take steps to provide for their own financial support during their initial settlement period.

The changes contained in this bill—to extend these waiting periods and apply them consistently across relevant income support and family payments—will strengthen the residency based nature of our welfare payments system. This will help to ensure that it remains sustainable in the longer term so that we can continue to support those in need now and into the future.

A key focus of Australia's migration program is attracting people who have the skills and talent we need to grow Australia's economy, increase productivity and create jobs. Currently, we settle around 186,000 new migrants a year in this country. Almost 69 per cent of these are skilled migrants.

This means that the majority of new permanent migrants have come to Australia to work and are well placed to support themselves and their families and contribute to the Australian economy and community when they arrive.

The changes in this bill will reinforce expectations that people choosing to become permanent residents of Australia should be able to support themselves and their families for a reasonable period—whether through their existing resources, through work or through support from family members already in Australia—before having the potential to access our generous welfare system.

Currently a two-year newly arrived resident's waiting period applies to working age income support payments, including Newstart allowance, youth allowance, carer payment, Austudy, sickness allowance, special benefit and the farm household allowance, as well as concession cards such as the low-income health care card and Commonwealth seniors health care card.

This waiting period means that most new permanent skilled and family migrants must have been an Australian resident and in Australia for two years before they can apply for these payments or concession cards.

The newly arrived residents waiting period was first introduced in 1993 and extended to a two-year waiting period was introduced in 1997. However, it has not been changed since then and welfare expenditure has grown significantly over this period, placing increasing pressure on the budget. Fiscally responsible decisions are required to ensure the ongoing sustainability of the welfare payments system.

This bill will extend the existing waiting period from two years to three years. This will ensure that migrants support themselves for longer when they first settle permanently in Australia, reducing the burden on the welfare payments system.

Three years is a reasonable period to expect permanent migrants to support themselves, whether through work, existing resources or family support.

After this initial three-year period, migrants will be able to access relevant payments and concession cards, provided they meet all other eligibility requirements.

Some income support payments—parenting payment, widow allowance and bereavement allowance—have a two-year qualifying residence period rather than a three-year waiting period while others, such as carer allowance, have no residence or waiting period at all.

Under this bill, a three-year newly arrived resident's waiting period will be applied to these payments, consistent with the new rules for working age payments. This will apply consistent rules and expectations across similar payments.

The full range of existing exemptions from the waiting period will be maintained, providing important protections for potentially vulnerable migrants.

This includes exemptions for humanitarian entrants and their families and exemptions for people who experience a change in circumstances after becoming an Australian resident and are no longer able to support themselves as planned.

These exemptions ensure a balance between fair and reasonable expectations that new migrants should support themselves and their families and maintaining a safety net for those who find themselves in need.

Currently, no waiting period applies to family payments, such as family tax benefit, parental leave pay and dad and partner pay. This means that these payments are available to new permanent residents immediately on arriving in Australia. Under the changes in this bill, a new three-year Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period will be applied to family tax benefit.

This reflects that many permanent skilled and family visa types also allow migrants to include dependent children in their visa applications. It is reasonable to expect that those migrants who choose to bring their family with them to Australia should support their family as well as themselves.

The waiting period will only apply to new permanent migrants from 1 July 2018 who have not yet been resident in Australia for three years. However, where the new migrant is partnered to an Australia citizen or a permanent resident who has already served their waiting period, their partner will still be able to receive family tax benefit.

To ensure that low-income families can continue to have access to concessional benefits under Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, families serving a waiting period for family tax benefit will be able to claim a low income health care card, provided they meet the income test for this card.

A new three-year waiting period will also be applied to parental leave pay and dad and partner pay.

It is fair to expect that migrants who choose to have or adopt a new baby after coming to Australia should support themselves and their new baby for a reasonable period of time before being eligible for taxpayer-funded parental leave.

The new waiting period reflects these expectations while still ensuring appropriate exemptions are available.

Transitional arrangements will also be put in place to ensure that people who may already be pregnant and have planned their leave arrangements are not disadvantaged. New migrants who have a baby born or adopted between 1 July 2018 and 31 December 2018, and are otherwise eligible for parental leave pay or dad and partner pay, will still be able to access these payments for that baby.

The introduction of a waiting period for family tax benefit and paid parental leave payments will apply consistent rules and expectations across both family and income support payments.

Importantly, families subject to a waiting period for family tax benefit or parental leave payments will continue to have access to broader government funded services to support their children's integration and wellbeing, including health care and education services.

Migrant families will also continue to have immediate access to childcare subsidies where they are using approved child care and participating in work, study or other approved activities.

To support families in challenging and unexpected circumstances, double orphan pension and stillborn baby payment will continue to be available as per current rules.

This will ensure that migrants who have experienced the tragedy of stillbirth, or are caring for a child who has lost both their parents, still have access to financial support to help them meet the associated costs.

The changes in this bill will only apply to people granted a permanent skilled or family visa on or after commencement of the bill—that is, from 1 July 2018.

This will ensure that prospective migrants are aware of the new rules before their visa is granted and are able to make informed decisions, including making arrangements to support themselves during the waiting period.

Migrants already granted permanent residence before 1 July 2018 will not be affected.

These migrants will continue to be subject to a two-year waiting period for relevant working age payments and will have no waiting periods for family payments.

There are a number of exemptions from the existing and new waiting periods. These exemptions are designed to provide safeguards for certain groups of migrants, including potentially vulnerable individuals and families, and people who have had a change of circumstances.

Humanitarian entrants and their families will continue to be exempt from waiting periods for all income support payments and will also be exempt from the new waiting periods for family tax benefit, parental leave pay and dad and partner pay.

This exemption acknowledges that refugees settling here under the humanitarian program are particularly vulnerable. These migrants generally have no other means of support and are not usually in a position to make plans for their own support prior to applying for a humanitarian visa. Maintaining access to welfare payments will help to promote the successful long term settlement of these humanitarian entrants and their families.

While most temporary visa holders do not have access to income support or family payments, there are some exceptions. Holders of certain temporary visas, including Temporary Protection Visas and Safe Haven Enterprise visas, currently have immediate access to family tax benefit, parental leave pay and dad and partner pay as well as special benefit.

These temporary visa holders will be exempt from the new waiting periods for family tax benefit, parental leave pay and dad and partner pay and will also continue to be exempt from the existing waiting period for special benefit. This exemption is consistent with the exemption for humanitarian entrants.

If these temporary visa holders are later granted a permanent visa, they will continue to be exempt from the waiting period. This will ensure that they do not lose access to the benefits just because they decide to settle in Australia permanently.

Most permanent migrants who make arrangements to support themselves during their initial settlement period will be able to be self-reliant for the full three years.

However, the government understands that some migrants will experience a change of circumstance which means they may no longer be able to support themselves as they had originally planned. For this reason, there are some exemptions for migrants in this situation.

Migrants who become a lone parent after becoming an Australian resident will continue to be exempt from the waiting period for the main principal carer parent payments: parenting payment, Newstart allowance and youth allowance. Parents granted this exemption will also be exempt from the waiting period for family tax benefit. This ensures that parents who no longer have the support—financial and otherwise—of their partner can access support for themselves and their children.

Other migrants who experience a substantial change of circumstances after the start of their waiting period, and are in financial hardship, will continue to be exempt from the waiting period for special benefit. This payment provides a safety net for people in hardship who are not otherwise eligible for other payments.

Those who receive this exemption for special benefit and have dependent children will also be exempt from the waiting period for family tax benefit.

Together, these exemptions provide a comprehensive safety net for migrants who are particularly vulnerable as well as those who are placed in hardship as a result of circumstances beyond their control.

In addition to the exemptions for vulnerable migrants, New Zealand citizens on special category visas will also be exempt from the waiting periods for family tax benefit, parental leave pay, and dad and partner pay. These New Zealanders currently have immediate access to these payments. This exemption ensures that they retain access to the same entitlements they can currently access.

This recognises the unique arrangements between Australia and New Zealand under our Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement which allow Australians and New Zealanders to live and work indefinitely in either country.

This government believes it is reasonable to expect that people seeking to come to Australia through the skilled and family visa streams should make arrangements to be financially self-sufficient when they first settle here.

We are committed to creating a fair and equitable system that is economically responsible while ensuring safeguards are in place.

The changes in this bill strike a balance between promoting self-reliance for newly arrived migrants and providing appropriate exemptions for those in vulnerable circumstances.

In line with the government's broader fiscal strategy, these changes will contribute to a sustainable future for an economically strong Australia. It will help keep our generous welfare system sustainable and promote self-sufficiency with newly arrived skilled migrants.

Debate adjourned.